Subscription-free: BBC One HD, BBC Two HD and ITV 1 HD are available with no subscription with Freeview HD and Freesat.

Sky+HD Review

This is a very easy review to write – if you’re in the UK, and you’re looking to make the most of your HD-ready TV, then Sky+HD is the way to go. The Sky+HD box builds on the success of the Sky + box, with all those great recording features, and adds high definition to the mix. Picture quality is amazing – so sharp and natural, that you’ll want more. Try a flip between National Geographic and GOLD, and you’ll really notice the difference.

Sky’s On-screen Electronic Programme Guide

The set-top box is great (more below), and there’s promise of some new goodies. The box has an Ethernet connector (for the Sky Anytime+ service), as well as two USB sockets (for future use).

The Sky+HD Box

Another feature worthy of mention is ‘Sky Anytime‘ – This started rolling out in 2007 on Sky+HD boxes. The Anytime service uses space on the hard disk, and captures some top Sky TV programmes and movies overnight. This means that there’s always a selection of programmes ready to watch on-demand.

Sky Anytime on a Sky+HD box

Our views on Sky HD? We’re sold… stunning picture, a powerful box, and the promise of more good stuff to come. Put your HD-ready telly through its paces, and enjoy!

If you don’t want to pay a subscription, the channels BBC One HD, BBC Two HD and Channel 4 HD are available subscription-free.

Do it yourself

We’ve been asked if it’s possible to buy your own Sky+HD box, and fit it yourself.

Yes – if you wish, you can buy your own Sky+HD box, rather than having to go through Sky. A Sky+HD box requires two separate feeds from the satellite dish, and your dish will need an LNB with multiple outputs – this is to support recording one channel while watching another. Once connected, you’ll need to call Sky Customer Services to get them to “marry” the serial number of your new Sky+HD box to your Sky viewing card, and then to activate the Sky+HD subscription, so you can view the HD channels.

Sky won’t activate a box unless they’re happy that it’s legitimate, and you’re not misusing your account by swapping cards between boxes on a regular basis.

Sky started rolling out their new-look EPG in March 2009. They phased the release of the EPG to boxes with different version numbers and different manufacturers.

Some users got the new look EPG version quickly, while others had a longer wait.
There appears to be no way to “force” an upgrade to the newer version of EPG – you have to wait until Sky roll it out to your box as an over the air upgrade.

Boxes made by Thomson and Pace should have received the upgrade by August 2009. Boxes made by Samsung got the upgrade in November 2009, and Amstrad users got the update in December 2009.

Satellite Dish

“Do I need to change my satellite dish to get Sky HD?” – No. If you’re able to get Sky at the moment, your existing dish is fine for Sky HD.

Note though that Sky+HD needs two feeds from the satellite dish, but standard Sky only needs one. If you only have one feed at the moment, Sky will have to run a second lead from the LNB on the dish to the Sky+HD box.

HD Quality

“I’ve never been that impressed with the quality. Certainly nothing like the demos in stores. Am I doing something wrong?”

When you switch been a standard definition channel and an HD channel, you should notice a crisper picture with more detail. If not, there are a few things to check:

You need to have an HD-ready TV set. If your TV does not support HD, it won’t be able to show high definition images

You need to connect from your Sky+HD box using an HDMI cable. If you connect using a SCART lead or a co-ax aerial lead, you’ll only be able to see standard definition images

You need to set the TV so that it’s viewing via the HDMI socket (not via SCART or aerial)

Make sure your Sky+HD box is set to output in HD. Go to Services > Settings > Picture and make sure “HD resolution output” isn’t set to 576. We’d recommend “Automatic”.

If you’re still not getting the most from HD, you may want to play with your TV’s picture settings (brightness, contrast, colour, etc), and check that your TV is not in a non-HD mode. As all TVs are different, you’ll need to check the manual for information on how to get the best picture from your TV.

No HD TV?

If you don’t have an HD-ready TV set yet, you can still get a Sky+HD box and watch in standard definition. You will be able to connect to a non-HD TV set using either a SCART lead or standard TV aerial cable. You can then upgrade to an HD-ready set later if required.

More HD channels

One of our podcast listeners asked whether we can expect to see Sky Digital phase out non-HD programming over time, to make way for more high-definition programming. Our take is that we’re some way away from that, as there just isn’t the volume of TV programming available in the HD format. Doubtless this will increase, but as with Sky Digital, change is slow, and tends to be driven by user demand. Hi-def UK Gold, anyone?

Sky HD in others rooms

We’ve been asked if you can get Sky HD in more than one room. Here are some notes:

To watch Sky programmes in HD, you need to connect to your TV using an HDMI lead to a suitably equipped HD-ready TV.

If you have two HD TV sets you want to connect to, you may be able to use the HDMI connector for one TV, and the Component connectors for the other TV, although over a long distance, this may not be practical. If you need long cables or extra connectors, try TV Cables or Maplin Electronics

If you have non-HD TV sets elsewhere in the house, you can still connect these to the output of the Sky+HD box – if you’re connecting to a TV in another room, you’ll typically use a co-ax aerial lead. With this solution, you will be able to watch all of the channels from your main Sky+HD box on a second TV – but this will be in Standard Definition (you can’t run HD over aerial cable).

You can use a “Magic Eye” TV Link (pictured) with a Sky+HD box to allow you to use a remote control in the second room to remotely change channel. More on Sky Magic Eyes.

Our podcast team had a call from a listener asking whether his existing AV sender used to send TV pictures to a receiver elsewhere in his house, would work with his Sky HD box.

Well, the video sender can’t be used to transmit high definition around the home. Firstly, most AV senders use SCART connectors, and High Definition doesn’t work over SCART. Secondly, the bandwidth needed for sending HD wirelessly, isn’t there. Although you can’t send HD using a video sender, as the Sky+HD box has SCART sockets, so you’ll still be able to send standard definition pictures to another TV wirelessly.

DVD / CDs

We’ve been asked if the Sky HD boxes will play back DVDs or CDs. The answer is a firm “no” – the Sky HD box doesn’t have a slot for a disk to be inserted – you’ll need a separate DVD player connected to your telly to play DVDs and CDs.

Installer menu

The technically-minded out there may be interested in the hidden “installer” menu on the Sky+HD box, that can be accessed by pressing the ‘Services’ button, then 0 0 1 followed by ‘Select’